Apple results show record $10 billion high for services division as Apple Music grows

Revenue from services including Apple Music reached an all-time high of $10 billion, according to Apple’s latest results, as the company posted quarterly revenue of $62.9 billion.

That total marks an increase of 20% year-on-year, while revenue from services grew by 27%, from $7.9bn to $10bn.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the quarter saw a new record set by Apple Music, while cloud services, the App Store and Apple Care also set new records. The call also revealed that Apple is on course to double its 2016 services revenue by 2020.

“We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Cook.

“Over the past two months, we’ve delivered huge advancements for our customers through new versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad and Mac as well as our four operating systems, and we enter the holiday season with our strongest lineup of products and services ever.”

Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO added: “We concluded a record year with our best September quarter ever, growing double digits in every geographic segment. We set September quarter revenue records for iPhone and Wearables and all-time quarterly records for Services and Mac.

“We generated $19.5 billion in operating cash flow and returned over $23 billion to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases in the September quarter, bringing total capital returned in fiscal 2018 to almost $90 billion.”

Meanwhile, reports suggest Apple Music is among the potential buyers contending for iHeartMedia, which filed for bankruptcy in March with debts of $20m. The move could see Beats 1 move from digital to radio broadcasting. IHeartMedia operates with more than 850 radio stations.